Lovers Change

This is another 'Changing' Story. One of the times I wrote two stories for one week. This one is fairly close to plagarism or whatever. See if you can figure out which country music artist would come after me if I ever tried to sell this story :) Like the previous story it was written in late January of 2000.

What a shock it was to see you last night in the mall. I've not seen you for nearly 6 months now. Haven't heard a word from you for that long.

You looked so good, just as I remember. You were wearing my shirt I gave you long ago when you asked for something to remember me by. You were laughing and happy and I felt good until I noticed you were with HIM. Why would you wear my shirt with him? I guess you don't think of me when you wear it.

It hurt seeing you so happy with someone else but then when I said hello and you introduced me as someone you used to know… Is that all I am? Just a guy from school?

Have you told him about the weekends at the beach? The long walks at night with the moon and the water and making love with the sound of the ocean washing over us as the light of the moon made you glow like an angel?

Have you told him how we used to argue about who loved who the most? That, at least, is settled since I still love you so and I'm just someone you used to know.

Have you told him about me at all? About how we'd lie together and talk for hours, about the time we took a shower in the rain, about the breakfasts in bed when you were sick. We shared so much and yet it all seems for naught considering I'm just someone you used to know.

I don't know how it changed or when but it hurts so much hearing that phrase echoing in my head and knowing that to you now I'm just someone you used to know.

Well good bye….and remember….I love you more.

Vaughn's Changing

This story marked my first, and thus far I believe, only foray into the genre of fantasy. I love to read fantasy, what I wouldn't do to be one of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, or to live in the universe of "The Rowan". Until they got tedious (to me) I really enjoyed Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" books, the early ones are still great I think. Who wouldn't one day want to wake up to find themselves a mighty wizard or the rider of a huge dragon? I'm not terribly thrilled with this story but I keep thinking about it over five years after I wrote it so I have a feeling it will resurface in my writing in one way, shape or form in the future. It was written in late January of 2000 for the AOL short story contest. The theme that week was "Changing". As usual I know I had trouble adhering to the 1000 word limit that existed at the time. One thing this contest taught me was a bit of brevity which is NOT my strong suit at ALL. (If you've ever gotten an email from me you know that lol).

Pandemonium reigned as Vaughn stepped out into the street, only to be nearly run over by a warrior on his horse, galloping to the summons. Jumping back, Vaughn heard him mutter, "Damn useless boy, out of my way!" as he swung his steed to avoid the lad. As were all the men in the village, he was drawn inexorably by the bell ringing madly at the village center, and continued on his way.

The great gates closed with a clang as Vaughn hurried by, and was stopped by Meredith and Mair. "What is it Vaughn? What's happening?" Meredith asked, her soft green eyes framed by her flaming red hair.

"It's the Gath! Their army has been spotted!" interrupted Gwalter, as he rushed past them, fastening his long sword. "This is no time for women and children in the streets, so do get yourselves inside!"

"I'm no child Gwalter, I've as many years as you have!" Vaughn shouted after him, in his usual squeaky, breaking voice. Gwalter gave no sign of having heard as he hurried on.

"Well, you're no man either, Vaughn. You can't think you compare to a strong warrior like Gwalter!" Mair said scornfully. "And don't try to tell me about being some great wizard's apprentice.  Nwython is gone now, and you have no master."

Vaughn took in both Mair's mocking and Meredith's pitying looks, and slunk off to the rooms he'd shared with old Nwython for these past five years.  He now lived alone there, since the wizard's passing several months ago.

The subsequent news of the raging battle did not bode well. The army of Gath was pushing on relentlessly toward the village, which would soon be under siege. So Vaughn spent the next few days studying the old volumes that Nwython had left him, thinking about all the wizard had tried to teach him. Suddenly, Vaughn slammed the last book closed, and cried out loud, "Why did you pick such a useless apprentice, Nwython? What good am I to anyone? I do all like you taught me, yet nothing works. And  who would ever tremble with fear at the name of Vaughn, as they did when the wrath of Nwython was aroused?"

He was silenced by a knock on the door.  And when Vaughn opened it, Meredith walked in, looking very frightened.

"Vaughn it goes badly, and I'm afraid! Our warriors have been pushed back and the village is surrounded.  Is there naught you can do?"

"Me? You heard Gwalter and Mair--I'm just a child, apprentice to no master! Of what use could I possibly be?"

"Oh Vaughn, Nwython was the greatest wizard of our age, and he trained you for five years! Surely he taught you something that will allow you to take up his sword and staff, and vanquish our foes as he would have!"

"But nothing I try works, Meredith! I fear I am just a failure." At that admission, Vaughn threw himself into a chair and put his head between his hands.

Suddenly, they became aware of a glow in the room, and he heard Meredith's breath catch. They looked up and saw Nwython standing by the work table, as Vaughn had seen him so many times before. Yet now, he could also see through him, as he stood there in a blue glow.

"Nwython?!" Vaughn jumped to his feet. "Thank the gods that you're back to save us from Gath's assail!"

"Did you learn nothing, my son? This is not my time.  That is past, as you well know," Nwython's specter replied. "This is YOUR time. I told you long ago that you would recognize the moment when you would come into your own, and become a wizard in your own right. Now is that time."

"But nothing I do works! I do not know enough, and I have so much more to learn!" Vaughn protested.

"You've got to believe in what I taught you--and in yourself," Nwython responded earnestly.

"But how can I? No one takes me seriously. They think I'm just a boy pretending to be a man, and can do naught to save the village!"

"I believe in you, Vaughn," Meredith said in a small voice, looking up at him.

"You...you DO?" Vaughn asked incredulously.

"Yes. I've watched you going about your lessons when I could sneak sight of them, and I've seen you do wondrous things as Nwython taught you. That's why I came to you. Now is the time we need you... I need you, Vaughn."

He took her words in, and looked over at Nwython.

Gesturing toward a side table where lay his old robe and weaponry, Nwython commanded, "Take up your raiment, your sword, and your staff, and assume the destiny for which I've prepared you!"

Vaughn turned around and saw Meredith's eyes widen, and then looked back to Nwython. If they believed so strongly in him, he felt he must also! He slipped into the robe, buckled on the sword, and took up the staff.  And as he did, he felt himself growing, enlarging somehow.

"Truly you are ready now, my son. No more are you Vaughn, wizard's apprentice. Nay, there stands Kyleder, mighty wizard of village Kedesh, destined to be known as the son of Nwython, and most powerful of all time. Go forth and take up your destiny." With those words, Nwython's spirit faded.

Vaughn noted his reflection in the window glass noting the changes. He no longer saw a gangly youth, but a tall, strong wizard dressed in radiant white, the staff in his hand glowing with barely contained power. Truly he saw himself as Kyleder, and now he understood the old wizard's ramblings about this son to whom no one could point.

"I must go now, Meredith. But when I return, we have much to discuss." Then he turned and strode out the door. Drawing his sword from its sheath with a mighty ring that reverberated throughout the village, he strode toward his destiny.

Easy Way Out?

This was my first story written in 2000. The theme this week was 'Escape'. I'm not sure how this one will be recieved. I do know it didn't win any kind of award. I'm just posting them as I wrote them. I can see a lot that could be re-written in this one. 

Yeah I know Susan you're my daughter and I love you dearly but you don't know as much about your old mom as you think you do. You say you're fed up with Fred and just can't take it anymore. Well I understand that.

Oh I know you always thought your Daddy and I had a perfect marriage. We tried not to ever fight in front of you kids or drag you into our problems. But believe me baby girl they were there whether you saw them or not.

I myself was close to leaving on many an occasion for a few years. Things would just get so overwhelming with you kids to raise and a house to run and everything. There was a time I could find so much wrong. Your daddy and I were drifting apart. He had his career and I had you all and the house. We had no interests in common anymore.

What honey? Yeah I know now we do lots of things together. Do you think that just happened? We had to learn to do that. We had to seek out things in common and work hard on enjoying them together.

There was a time when I could barely even talk to your father though. It seemed to me like he'd stopped loving me. He'd go to work and come home and play with you kids and then by the time you were all in bed and it was my time with him he'd be too tired to do anything but go to sleep. I even had a period of time that I resented you kids for taking my husband from me.

I wanted to leave really bad. I even went as far as to look at apartments and look into getting a job. I also ended up finding a friend that understood me. He was going through the same things in his life. He felt his wife no longer loved him, she hadn't had sex with him in a couple of years except as kind of an afterthought and it was never pleasant for him and they were drifting apart. We met….well where we met doesn't matter but we talked with increasing frequency until we were at the point of talking a couple of times a day. Anytime we could work it in.

Yes honey I had an affair with him. I shouldn't have I know. But to tell the truth it saved my marriage. I don't expect anybody to believe that but as pleasant as it was to get everything I wanted and missed at home I never gave up getting that from your Daddy and began to learn to talk to him and teach him what I wanted. I also learned to look at what he was doing right.

Why didn't I leave if I was so unhappy? Why don't you? The same reasons I bet in large part. First of all once I looked at it I really did love your Daddy but that took a while to see. I liked the lifestyle he provided me. I was afraid of what it would be like "out there". Would my friend and I really be happy together. Would he even really leave his wife? Oh I found millions of reasons to stay and millions of reasons to leave it seemed.

Remember the story I told you about the old hound dog on the porch who was laying on the nail and would howl every now and then but how it didn't hurt enough for him to move. I came to realize I was like that. It didn't hurt enough to make me really move.

Oh Susan dear there were days when I wanted to run away so bad. Just leave everything and escape. I wanted it so bad I'd lie in bed and cry all day while you kids were gone to school. But then slowly as time passed and our affair started to kind of wind down I realized that I did love your daddy. And what's more my friend realized he really loved his wife. We eventually ended things. We still keep in touch and I know he tried to make things work for years before his wife finally asked for a divorce. It turns out she later had an affair and left him.

No honey I've not seriously been tempted to go be with him now. At one time I would have but for one thing he's never asked and never will while your daddy and I are doing well.

Oh yes Daddy knows, he's known longer than I thought he knew but he is not a stupid man. He knows me very well and knows that if he'd told me to stop or leave I'd have left at that point. It is he says why he started working harder on our marriage together, just another reason I'm saying my affair saved my marriage.

No as far as I know he's never done it. I'm not going to ask because I don't want to know but I'm pretty sure what the answer would be.

Now honey I'm not telling you to go and have an affair. What I'm telling you is that we all get to a point we want to just run away and escape life. You could do it. You could leave Fred and strike out on your own but honey you married him for a reason and you have several years together. Do you really want to take the easy way out and just escape or do you want to buckle down and build a life for yourself? I can tell you thatwhen you have your family around you on your 50th anniversary as we just have you will be glad you chose the hard road and made it work.

Last Night, First Night

This is one of my favorite stories although I will admit it could still use a bit of work to add a bit more punch. It was written for January 1, 2000. With all the Y2K hysteria I could not resist something like this. I'm not going to delve into the fact that the millenium really began on January 1, 2001or that there are admited errors in the calendar so that it could be off one way or another by up to several decades. I've read all that and with this story was just going after the popular hysteria about what might happen when 1999 ticked over to 2000. I submitted the story on the 29th of December 1999, just in case my computer wouldn't work as of January 1, 2000 :) (I'm kidding, I was not worried at all and was proved correct, but then I guess it was a 50/50 chance so it wasn't exactly a long shot). The theme was "First Night".

Harry watched with satisfaction as the distant lights of the city began to wink out. He had been right. The radio started hissing with static as the station it was tuned to went off the air. The television followed it. Harry could hear now only the faint working of his generator and the hiss of static from the television and radio. All around the glow of lights on the horizon died and for the first time ever Harry saw the true night with no light pollution from surrounding civilization. Even the cars on the highway seemed to be effected Harry noticed for the first time realizing even those lights and sounds were gone.

He felt  bit uneasy at that. Then he turned sharply as his generator stopped and with it the hiss and light of the television and the hiss of the radio. Out of gas maybe, he thought. Although it shouldn't be, came the answering thought, it ought to have gas enough for hours more. The silence was overwhelming almost oppressive. All Harry could hear now was the faint hiss of the Coleman Lantern in his camp as he stood watching the most stars he'd ever seen before.

When the lantern quit Harry started getting scared, much too late of course by now though. Harry watched the stars with trepidation and was not at all surprised to see a dark stain beginning to spread as star after star winked out. His mind argued that some of that light was millions of years old getting to him and that it was not January 1, 2000 where they were. Still the evidence was there. Feeling afraid of the night for the first time in his life Harry pulled his lighter out of his pocket with trembling hands. It was now so dark he literally could not see his hands, only the few stars that remained. He flicked the lighter and screamed in anger and fear when there was not even a spark much less a flame. The matches were next, most scattering out of the box as he fumbled with it in the dark. Almost all the stars were gone now. Harry was panicking, kneeling, desperately trying to light a match but then he realized he could not even tell if he was striking it or not. Harry focused on the last few stars. Watching as one by one they went out.

Harry realized he was screaming like a scared animal as the last star went out. One tiny part of his brain wished that he'd greeted this with more dignity while the rest of his brain screamed as one by one his senses shut down.

So began the first night.

Beach Comfort

This story was written in December of 1999. The theme this week was "comfort". I don't remember the motivation for this story but I think it's at least in part something one of my friends online told me about. Most is, no doubt, my imagination. This story, to me, seems to lack much punch as a story. It does make me want to take a trip to the beach though :)

I was walking slowly along the beach enjoying my solitude. It was a cool day a couple of days after Christmas and I had through the first of the year at the house on Melbourne Beach that my friend was letting me use. I've always liked this beach because there is little public access and only single family homes spread along it so its almost always sparsely populated. On days like today it was usually deserted. I could see a person or two walking up the beach and there were three surfers in wet suits trying their luck. At least I was not the craziest person here.

I was just feeling sorry for myself. Here I was a 45 year old of two grown children newly divorced from a husband who wanted somebody younger and prettier if his new squeeze was any example. I had gotten a good settlement and I had the good luck to have a good ongoing business that I could work from anywhere but all I saw in the mirror anymore were the wrinkles, gray hair and bags under my eyes. I had come face to face with the fact that my days of appealing to men were over. Oh sure my friends tried to tell me different all the time but that's what friends are for, to try to make you feel good even if they have to lie through your teeth.

I was so deep in thought as I shuffled along watching my toes in the sand that at first it didn't register, then I realized that somebody had said hello. I looked up and saw a man standing there with a handful of shells tossing them into the ocean one after another. He was dressed in sweats and wore a wind breaker making me aware for the first time that I was a little cold dressed in only a tee shirt and sweat pants and being barefoot. I never could bring myself to wear shoes on the beach even when it was cold out.

"Hi," I said stopping for some reason. I guess I wanted to talk even if it was to a stranger.  At least a stranger would not have the feeling sorry for me attitude that my friends did. It was wearing old.

"Beautiful day isn't it?" he said smiling at me but something about the smile, the look in his eyes and the way hesaid it I got the feeling that he wasn't feeling like he sounded.

"A bit cool and windy" I said "but the ocean and sky sure are pretty."

He threw a few more shells and for a couple of minutes we stood and looked out at the ocean. I don't know how to describe it but there was no feeling like neither of us wanted to talk and I should keep walking. It felt right just standing there looking at the waves. Maybe I was just tired.

"Those people are nuts" he said as one of the surfers caught a good wave. "Good ride though."

"I've never understood being that dedicated to something like surfing and wanting to do it when its so cold"

"Me either they have to be cold" He said.

"I would think so. I'm starting to wish I'd worn a jacket" I said.

"If you're cold would you like to borrow my windbreaker? The sweatshirt will keep me warm for a bit."

That was when I found myself losing my mind because the next thing I said was "What I'd really like is to share it with you. Could you put your arms around me?"

He moved behind me and wrapped the coat as far around as he could then wrapped his arms around me.

"Better?" He asked? "That's what you wanted?"

"Its wonderful but I can't believe I asked a total stranger to hold me like this" I said quietly. It felt wonderful just to be held again.

"My name is Jay if that helps, tell me yours and we won't be strangers anymore will we?" he asked in my ear.

"That sounds good to me, my name is Lori" I said snuggling back into him a bit more and feeling him rest his cheek against my ear. It felt so warm and reminded me that my ears had been cold too. I found myself moving his hands up slightly to my chest. Again I asked myself if I'd lost my mind but I'd found something I'd been missing for so long and I guess I wanted all I could get.

"I'm glad to meet you Lori. This sure feels good. I think I ought to tell you that I'm married though. On the other hand just an hour ago my wife suggested I take a walk because I was bothering her again I guess. She said maybe I'd find somebody else that lived here that I could spend time with. She's not wanted to be held like this for a long time." Jay said.

I wasn't sure if I was crazy or not but I said "I don't mind Jay. Maybe just maybe fate brought us together to give us what we both need right now." I turned and slid my arms around him inside the jacket. I could feel that I'd already had an effect onhim as I leaned up and kissed him. "Why don't we go to my house and see about warming up a bit?"

We walked the little way down the beach to my house and that afternoon and the couple of days that followed were wonderful. Nothing permanent will or can come out of it I know but we both found comfort when and where we needed it.

The Next Wave

I took a shot here at some science fiction. I'm not sure what I think of this one. It was written in December of 1999. The theme for the week was pioneers. I have a feeling I was torn here between writing sci-fi and writing a western. Maybe I should have gone with the western?

"So tell me why you all are here" Jim Stephenson heard and as he looked up from his conversation with a little irritation and saw the perky red haired reporter that had been running around talking to everybody on board the UNS Conestoga. He and his tablemates had so far avoided her. That, it seemed, was at an end.

Across the table Carlos Mendez quipped, "Well I'm going to get away from reporters and their questions and the way the media twists everything that is said anyway".

"You wish you were so popular that reporters wanted to bug you", Joanne Foss said from the seat between Jim and Carlos.

"Well I'm going I think because I've always felt the itch my ancestors felt to be out in the wide open spaces, to hunt for their food, to farm as much land as they could handle." Jim said. "Lets face it there are few wide-open spaces left on earth. I'm surprised it's taken this long for something like this to happen."

"Why do you think it did take so long then", the reporter asked.

"Well it seems to me that society reaches a point that a certain element is ready to move out on their own. My own ancestors were pioneers from way back. Some of them left Ireland for America to get more land and have a better opportunity at the kind of life they dreamed of. Some of them found it as soon as they landed here while others ended up pressing on west with other like minded pioneers." Jim answered.

"Its different for me I think", Joanne said quietly, somewhat lost in thought. "I am a scientist, a botanist. I look forward to a new planet to explore, to learning its life forms and helping our Earth plants and even animals adapt to that ecosystem. I also want to get away from the structure of the scientific community here on Earth. Hell people are even saying that what we'll be doing is raping the ecosystem of whichever of the new planet we settle.  Don't they realize we will be stuck living there? We have to be self sufficient what would the purpose be of harming anything. It's a chance to do it right and not end up with the polluted mess we have now. I look forward to a pristine planet to begin anew with. We'vechosen to be an agrarian society with a low level of technology there will be no big manufacturing plants or anything like that. We'll start with clean electric vehicles, clean methods of producing that electricity. Its truly a chance for us to start over and do it right."

"That's interesting, but getting back to why it took so long for this to happen if there was such a readiness for it. What are your opinions?"

"It was mostly political" Carlos said. "Obviously it's a massively expensive operation. It had to be funded by governments. No company was going to do it, not in more than token amounts. We've seen that come to pass."

"First somebody had to get governments together to get serious about space exploration in general. All that crap about exploring the solar system was nice but we knew that we could not have viable colonies on any of the other planets, no the way people really want to live. There is some scientific interest and that's why there are facilities on the Moon, Mars and Titan but in general what it would take to grab people's attention and get the next wave of expansion going was the discovery first of practical interstellar flight and it took somebody that everybody thought was crazy to show that while Einstein was right it was also possible to kind of go around the back door and get places faster than light."

"Then came the debates about what would be found out there. What if we ended up kicking a hornet's nest so to speak and we got ourselves attacked. Thank God nobody worried about that in Columbus' day. We have yet to find any other intelligent life out there but I have to think if there was somebody out there that war like and hungry we'd have heard by now. A lot of arguments went up also about what if there was nothing out there to find. What if Earth was the only habitable planet? Again in the end logic prevailed over government bureaucrats trying to cover their asses. It's been a long struggle. First to get governments to work together for all mankind, and that's still far from perfect and second to get past the bureaucracy and actually get something done."

The riots of a few years ago that spread all around the world did have their positive effect in cutting bureaucratic waste of both time and money. The people that moan about how much this project is costing need to look at what has been spent to eliminate hunger in third world countries, hell we've gone a long way to eliminate that designationitself.

"That all has gotten us to this point but for some of us the changes are too slow and too shallow. I look forward to forging a new world according to the charter that has been drawn up among the chosen settlers. It should be a much better place than good old Earth and with luck it always will be. I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. I think you will see a wave of pioneers now as humanity once again expands his horizons." With that Carlos sat back and there was obvious agreement at the table. Before anybody else could say anything the preparation for launch warning was given and everybody scattered to their assigned places as mankind prepared to begin scattering from Earth to the Stars. The Pioneer spirit was and is alive and well.

Running Away From Life

This was an interesting story for me to re-read right now. It's another I barely remember writing but on re-reading it I like it. It could use polishing but over all I like it. I'm wondering if I wrote it targeted for somebody I knew back then. If so I can't remember who. It was written in early December of 1999 for the AOL short story contest and the theme that week was "Wisdom".

Being a couple of days before Thanksgiving I was not surprised that the airport was packed so I was happy just to find a seat. It didn't look like the people on either side would want to talk which was fine with me since I was beat after a long road trip. It wasn't long though until I heard the lady sitting next to me sobbing quietly. Looking over, not really wanting to get involved I saw that she looked like she had been crying quite a bit.

She looked over at me and I must have let my aggravation show because she dabbed her eyes and tried to smile and said, "I'm sorry, I'll try to be quiet".

Instantly I felt like a real heel and found myself saying, "Don't be silly, it's not your fault, is there anything it would help to talk about?"

"I don't know that there is anything to talk about. I'm just so fed up with life that I can't take it anymore," she sobbed, "I'm leaving my husband and my kids and you probably think that makes me a terrible person."

"What happened? Have you told him or are you just leaving?"

"I've threatened to leave for months now and he doesn't take me seriously. He barely notices I'm there. He just works all the time and when he does come home he plays with the kids and then when we have time alone he falls asleep. I am stuck with them all damn day and he comes home and does whatever they want and brings them things and I'm just sick of being the bad guy all the time."

"I'm going to start over and make a life for myself. I don't have one now I just have this existence where I wait on my husband and my kids and do PTA and crap like that. I want to live for myself. I want somebody to notice me and love me like I want to be loved. I want to find a little romance maybe. I want to feel like a woman."

She took more tissues from her purse and blew her nose and I was trying to think of just what to say when I heard a voice behind us and turning found it was a man sitting in the seats to our back turned around saying, "Honey I know just how you feel but I can assure you that you will regret it in later years."

"How can you be so damned sure? You don't live the hell I do" She said to him. As she talked I took a good look at him. He was I'd guess 60 or so with solid gray hair dressed in a suit. If I'd had to pick one word to describe him I'd have picked distinguished.

"Will you listen to me for a few minutes Ma'am and then decide if I know what I'm talking about or not. Maybe your situation is different, let me tell you my story and you decide ok?

She, obviously with reluctance and resignation, agreed to hear him out. Then he began to talk.

"I was about your age and I just sort of woke up one day and felt like I was getting nowhere. I had a house, a wife, two kids and a job I hated. I saw no way to change things and I got really depressed. I wanted to quit my job and try something else but my wife was afraid of what might happen if it didn't work. I got more and more bitter until I wasn't even being a good daddy."

"That's when like you I said I was going to chuck it all and start over. I'd gotten so bad my wife never even looked for me I don't think, just went straight to a lawyer who tracked me down to serve the papers."

"Over the years I did find a job I like and that I'm very good at. To look at me you'd think I was very successful. All that's on the outside though. I never found another woman like my wife. I guess I was afraid to try again. And then there were the kids. I got to thinking of them growing up without me. I tried to see them once but I'd given them up and they and their mom resented that and do to this day. I did what I could getting what clippings of them I could from the local newspaper and all but it's not the same. Those kids grew up without me, resenting me and I found out I missed them so bad."

I also learned that sooner or later all life is the same routine. I still had a job and the bills to pay and the house to fix up and the car to keep running only I no longer had somebody to talk to about it or kids to take pleasure in. When you give up all that you give up a piece of yourself honey.  I don't know if you think this applies to you or not but if I can give you a bit of the wisdom of my experience then I'm happy."

The man finished his story and without waiting her to say anything got up and walked away and was swallowed by the crowd. I don't know what she thought, she was crying more than ever. Our plane was called and as I was about to board I saw her still sitting there and then heard a commotion and saw a young man come running down the concourse. She stood and he pulled her into his arms and they cried together.  I have to think that maybe everything was ok with her since she never got on the plane.